Evangelicals and A Call to Civil Society

The recent death of my friend, the redoubtable Jean Bethke Elshtain, prompts me to recall one of her contributions to this topic, “Evangelicalism and Politics.” And it is an approach I both endorse and teach. In 1999, Jean and a couple of dozen members of the Council on Civil Society published a manifesto titled A Call to Civil Society.  The manifesto provides what I take to be one of the most, if not the most, fruitful prospects for evangelical engagement with American politics.

Elshtain and company observed—following the American founder James Madison—that self-government, the foundation of democracy, requires a virtuous citizenry. The virtues required for self-government are just those qualities that are disappearing from our culture. “An unfree society has much less need of virtuous or civic-minded people. But a democracy, the Founders insisted, depends decisively upon the competence and character of its citizenry,” said the document. 

The strategy laid down in A Call to Civil Society is to invest in what the Council called the “seed beds of virtue,” those institutions of American life where the seeds of virtue are planted, watered, and germinated.

 “The qualities necessary for self-governance take root in individuals essentially due to the influence of certain moral ideas about the human person and the nature of the good life. The primary exposure to these ideas comes from certain forms of association, beginning with the family. Together, these moral ideas and person-to-person associations have historically constituted our seedbeds of civic virtue—our foundational sources of competence, character,and citizenship.”

The institutions, then, where we should invest our time, money, and energy, include:

• ·         The family
• ·         The local community or neighborhood
• ·         Faith communities and religious institutions
• ·         Voluntary civic organizations
• ·         The arts and art institutions
• ·         Local government
• ·         Systems of primary and secondary education
• ·         Higher education
• ·         Business, labor, and economic institutions
• ·         Media institutions

It is these institutions, so the argument goes, where the personal virtues required for the body politic are developed. To the degree that these institutions languish, so does the character of those who constitute the citizenry. And in any form of democracy, politics is only as virtuous as its citizens.

This approach to politics reminds me of that often seen bumper sticker: “Think Globally, Act Locally.”  Not many of us can influence global politics, but every one of us can encourage and support strong families, build and participate in local community life, serve and worship in faithful religious institutions, etc.  This strategy requires of each of us that we accrue social capital.  That is to say, that our families, neighbors, places of worship, art museums, or other seed beds of virtue know we are committed to civil society because they see our investment in them. And, if it should happen that we need to call for reform or say tough things, we have some collateral from which to draw.  Because we are not outsiders hurling grenade words, but vested members of the community, we have earned the right to critique if necessary, realizing in some senses, it will be self-critique. After all, we’re in this together.

Another advantage of this approach is that it recognizes that the virtues of civil society are not cultivated only in those hallowed buildings in Washington, DC.  And, in fact, those virtues are not first concerned about national public policy at all, but about local, community-based concerns.  That’s not to say that national public policy is unimportant. That would be absurd.  It is to maintain, however, that the priority for civil society is local and may or may not have to do with policy, but music, the arts, and voluntary clubs.

Finally, because this strategy focuses on the local, it has the advantage of being more about people and relationships than about institutions, per se. Not that institutions are unimportant; but except for revivals and revolutions, social change occurs one-by-one, from the inside out. 

So, what does this have to do with evangelicals and politics?  Plenty.  The apostle Peter said to a group of exiles, “Be subject for the Lord’s sake to every human institution, whether it be to the emperor as supreme, or to governors as sent by him to punish those who do evil and to praise those who do good. For this is the will of God, that by doing good you should put to silence the ignorance of foolish people. Live as people who are free, not using your freedom as a cover-up for evil, but living as servants of God. Honor everyone. Love the brotherhood. Fear God. Honor the emperor” (1 Peter 2:13-17). 

I take it from Peter that during our exile here we are to be good citizens as long as that is possible.  Through contributing to the common good, cultivating the virtues of the resurrected life, and investing in people in our communities, we demonstrate neighbor love and the fear of God.  Might there be reasons for a prophetic witness?  Of course.  And God calls some to be prophets like Martin Luther King, Jr., to preach national repentance.  But on any given day, evangelicals should be (and very often are) found serving their local communities by honoring others and planting, watering and cultivating those seed beds of virtue. In this way, we contribute to human flourishing as we build the collateral to speak into public spaces as fellow citizens, not as outsiders.  We do so, not to instrumentalize others, but because it’s just the right thing to do.